Brian Thomas Sniffen wrote:
So would a web-based firmware loader, that never saved the firmware to disk allow the drivers to be in main?Of course not. It's fetching software, then using that software. ICQ software merely mentions messages, but doesn't use them.
ICQ uses the messages as instructions telling it what glyphs to display on your screen. That part of the message, though, might be free.
It does use significant features from non-packaged software --- message routing, buddy list management, buddy tracking, file transfer, etc.
We've elected to ignore ICQ's dependency on an ICQ server. We've elected to ignore a driver's dependency on firmware burnt in ROM or stored in flash --- even when it executes that code on the main CPU. We've elected not to ignore firmware that resides in RAM instead.
I'm not sure how to make a consistent (and still useful) position out of all that.